Moe Madness: Government Realizes Selling Power of Cute 2D Girls

Moe promotion is in right now! Anything can be moe-fied, and a cute persona can help sell anything from regular rice to smelly natto. Recently companies, schools, railways and even government offices have all been getting in on the act. You just can’t get away from it! And this video has the proof.

The Japanese Companies & Municipal Corporations Moe Characters series video that was recently uploaded to Nico Nico Video is pretty awesome! We started watching from the latest video, which is part 7. If you watch parts 5 and 6 and then watch the newest part 7, you can get a look at all the characters introduced in the series so far. The extra-long part 7 video is 25 minutes long; it’s practically a documentary! I truly admire the creator’s obsession. I mean, dedication!

Part 7 starts with an introduction of moe characters shown in the first 4 videos. First up is Hinomoto Ui-chan who was created around 2002 as the character for Tokyo Polytechnic University’s animation department. Then keep watching for a whole array of cute characters. Take, for example, ‘High School Girl Kimchee’. With her legs drawn up, her gravity-defying skirt somehow clings to her legs, keeping her modestly but flirtily covered, you just can’t resist picking up a pack of kimchee if she’s on the packaging!

Then there’s ‘Minase & Hina’s Inaniwa Udon’. The idea is that the soup is the characters’ left-over bath water. Mmm, what a delicious image. Definitely makes me want to try it.

And it’s not just companies using moe marketing: the government has also been harnessing this power for its own purposes. One of our favorites was Oita Prefecture’s ambitious plan to anthropomorphize every municipality in the region into an irresistible moe character. There’s a girl there to suit everyone. One big happy harem!